The Best Things In Life
by allmyloveforfandoms
Summary: For Felicity Smoak, there is a price to pay for the things she values most.


The best things in life came at a price for a very blonde IT expert named Felicity Smoak.

Everlasting friendships were made at the cost of old ones. Felicity was no longer in contact with any of her childhood friends from back home in Nevada, but she had formed new bonds with Sara Lance and John Diggle. These bonds weren't any more or any less _real_ than her old ones, however there was something to be said about friends who would actually take a bullet for you. The three had learned that the hard way when Sara jumped in front of a madman's gun to save Felicity's life.

_"Sara!" Felicity screamed as she stood over her friend's body._

_"I'm fine." Sara winced as she sat up. Blood oozed from her leg like a raging river._

_"Last time I checked fine and bleeding were two very different things." Felicity replied._

_"Let's just go back to the rendezvous point." Sara tried to stand up, but faltered. She stumbled backwards and gripped onto the cement wall of the abandoned factory._

_"I've got her." John Diggle's loud voice bellowed from where he had just shot Felicity's and Sara's attacker. Felicity moved out of the way so that Diggle had better access to Sara. When they reached the outside of the van, Sara muttered a "thank you" to Diggle to which he replied,"what are friends for?"_

_At least they had each other._

* * *

Felicity found love for the cost of war and chaos. In the rubble of their latest major battle, Oliver stood holding Felicity in his arms. Her unconscious body lay across his chest. No matter how hard he yelled and pleaded, she wouldn't open her eyes. That is, until he whispered _I love you _as he dropped to his knees.

"_I can't lose you." He begged and she miraculously opened her eyes. He choked back a sob. "Sure, now you open your eyes." She coughed. The soot of the building's collapse coated her lungs. She smiled lightly up at him. "I thought I lost you." He whispered while clutching her tightly._

_"You can't get rid of me that easily." Her attempt at a joke sent her into a coughing fit._

_"Let's get out of here." He said as he stood up slowly._

_"By the way, Oliver?" She looked up at him._

_"Hmm?" He hummed in response as he tried to find the best and least risky way out of the debris._

_"I love you too." The look he gave her could've solved the world's problems. It was filled with love and passion and fire. The way his eyes latched onto hers sent butterflies to her stomach. He adjusted her in his arms and kissed her forehead lightly. _

_"Good."_

Two years after that moment, Felicity was wearing white and walking down an aisle. Oliver was at the other end smiling widely as Diggle escorted her down the walkway. Sara trailed behind her holding the long, luxurious train that was attached to the back of her dress. Despite her happiness though, there had still been countless lives lost in the process. The couple was all too aware of that.

* * *

The destruction of her second home was the price to pay for safety. Slade Wilson had just destroyed the Foundry, leaving Team Arrow in shambles. Everything that the team had accomplished was in some part due to the work they did there. It was like a home away from home for all of them. Most of the time, they preferred that over going to their actual homes. The Foundry had mystical qualities to it. It was soothing and secure. Well, not anymore.

_"Leave it, Felicity!" Digg called while pulling her arm back._

_"I worked too damn hard to let this all go to waste." She gestured at the bits of computer hard drives and arrow heads strewn about. It was like a graveyard of all of the team's hard work._

_"It's not worth it!" He insisted. "We have the other safe-house. Now that Slade knows about this place, it isn't secure." His voice became gentler in an attempt to reason with her. She turned back towards him. She silently agreed and they made their way out of the basement of Verdant for the last time. _

To air on the side of safety, the team left the Foundry and built their new home away from home elsewhere. It wasn't the same, but how could it be? The Foundry was what united the three in the first place. It was more than a meeting spot, it was a place where Oliver didn't have to be Oliver Queen, the play boy billionaire or The Vigilante. It was a place where John Diggle didn't have to be the ex-soldier or the man who lost his brother. It was the place that Felicity Smoak could be more than just an IT girl. The Foundry made them better people. They now learn to be better elsewhere.

Felicity lost the remnants of her old family. Sure, she had made a new one with Oliver and Sara and Diggle, but that didn't take the sting out of the conversation she had with her mother.

_"Felicity Megan Smoak, I've had this conversation too many times with you." _

_"I know if you would just listen to me..." Felicity slid a hand over her face and closed her eyes. She opened them the moment she felt Oliver enter the room._

_"Felicity, I'm hanging up the phone. Unless you are calling me to tell me that you are done living in a city that's thousands of miles from home, don't call me."_

_"Mom-"_

_"No, you left me and so did your father." Felicity was about to respond, but the line went dead. She pulled the phone away from ear, looked at it and then put it back flush against the side of her face. "Mom?" She asked but in turn all she heard was silence._

_That night, Oliver rubbed her back as they were lying in bed._

_"You okay?" He asked lightly._

_"Yeah, you know it's just my mother. You know how it is with family sometimes."_

_"I'm not the one who should be saying this, but if you want to talk about it i'm here to listen." He leaned over and kissed the side of her face._

_She appreciated the sentiment, but said "Really, Oliver it's okay. I've got all the family I need right here."_

_He smiled at her. "Good, I'm glad."_

Felicity liked the fact that she was able to pick her own family.

Despite all of her losses, Felicity Smoak made gains that she wouldn't trade for the world. She found friends and love and safety and a new family. She was okay with the sacrifices that were made in the process. She had come to terms with the fact that many things would never be the same. Felicity found herself dwelling on the past at times, but the nostalgia was never all consuming. She figured that the best things in life had to come at a price.

Author's Note: I'd love if you left me a review :) p.s. you can find me at allmyloveforfandoms .tumblr .com (I always follow back!)


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